Virtual Reality is a technology that gives the user a real life kind of experience, although in a virtual or imaginary world. This feat is achieved by using a ‘virtual reality’ headset to enter a simulated 3D computer generated world. Apart from the headset, sometimes sensors are also used to mimic the physical reality of what you are witnessing. To create the virtual world, a 3600 or omnidirectional camera is deployed.

After a modest start (the exact origin is disputed), the use of VR has been on an upward trend. The formation of the consortium called Web3D hugely contributed to this rise and many industries are adopting it for various functional purposes. Let us explore the 5 industries which will be impacted the most by VR.

Gaming:

From the rudimentary low-resolution graphics rendered by the first ever computer game ‘Spacewar’ way back in 1962, the gaming industry has surely come a long way. Today’s games are a bundle of high-resolution graphics, extreme complexity and require some serious computing power to run. Some computer manufacturers are making machines, especially dedicated to gaming and this is proof in itself of the popularity and ever increasing number of gaming fanatics.

Virtual Reality and gaming almost look like an obvious combination as all the gaming companies have the ‘user experience’ as their prime motive. Many popular games are now being released in their VR versions as well. And in the foreseeable future, it is inevitable that all the games will be available in VR versions, with all the frills like sensors, motion detectors, gyroscopes etc. This surely would give the gamers a feel of being ‘in’ the game itself.

Movies and Entertainment:

The blockbuster Avatar was the first movie to be shot using omnidirectional cameras and had an almost real life like graphics. We may safely extrapolate that the movie goers and entertainment seekers would surely be welcomed by the VR experience. The time of VR and entertainment is not too far away. Let’s explore a few places in the entertainment space where VR may see its presence.

– Amusement Rides: Instead of Amusement parks occupying acres of land with massive flywheels or rides, the future might witness the ‘riders’ experience the same thrill, shrieks and adrenaline rush but using a VR enabled set-up.

– Movies and Television: This surely is a given fact that the future of movies and television would usher an era of real life experience through VR Technology.

Education:

VR enabled classrooms would surely be a boon for students of the future. Imagine the entire courseware being visualized through VR technology and the students grasping the nitty-gritty of the subject by using their sense of sight & hearing.

The grasping and the comprehension are sure to increase exponentially. Moreover, the entire subject delivery can be made uniform and students don’t have to bear with the teaching styles of various teachers.

Defense and Homeland Security:

Even today, it is common practice followed by the Defense Contractors to supply simulators for complex machineries. The future is highly likely to witness the VR in some of the following:

– Induction Training: Like the aforementioned usage in the education sector, the induction training or part of it is highly perceivable to be delivered using the VR technology.

– Weapons training and exercise: Usage of VR in weapons training and weapon usage exercises is highly conceivable. This would not only optimize the costs, but also negate the perils of injury or other mishaps.

– War Gaming and strategic planning: The entire perception of the war field can be captured using VR thereby the war gaming and strategic planning can be easily & accurately done using the true on-ground scenarios.

Aviation:

The aviation sector may possibly use the VR technology in the following.

– Pilot Training: Similar to the weapon training and exercise the pilots may use the VR enabled classrooms for their training and retraining.

– Averting accidents and casualties: Ground staff and the air controllers may have VR technology installed. With VR, they would have a 360 view of the space and to avert any accident they may be quickly able to work out various scenarios and suggest the best course of action to the pilot in real-time.